SANCTIFIED BY THE TRUTH

We cannot sanctify ourselves. The more we try to be sanctified, the more involved we become with things that are common. But when the word mingled with the essence of the Triune God is imparted into us as the truth, this truth sanctifies us. We have all experienced this. By contacting the written Word that is mingled with the living Word, something is transfused into us and works in us all day long.

Suppose the young people touch the Word with the Spirit in morning watch and then go to school. Throughout the day at school this word of truth will work within them to separate them and make them different from their classmates in their behavior, actions, work, thoughts, and feelings. Something is working within them to sanctify them, to make them holy.

By taking the Word in this way, we have the clear conviction that something of the Lord has been wrought into us. This is not the mere knowledge of the Bible or of things concerning the Lord. It is the reality of the Triune God living, moving, working, and separating us. This makes us different from the worldly people. I can tell by the faces of the young people that they are graced by the Lord’s presence. What a blessing! Every morning we can touch the living Word and have the divine reality infused into our being. In this way the Triune God is transfused into us.

This transfusion of the element of God frees us from such negative things as temper, jealousy, hatred, and pride. It sets us free from every kind of falsehood. This is real liberation, real freedom. As we are being set free, we are also sanctified, separated, made holy to God, not only positionally but also dispositionally. We become one with God because His very essence is being wrought into us. This is what it means to be sanctified by the word of truth.

COMING TO THE WORD DAILY

Daily we need to practice coming to the Word in this way. Like breathing, we cannot do this once for all; rather, it must be a continual exercise. We need to be sanctified unceasingly every minute of the day. This is the reason we need to come to the Word every morning and, if possible, at other times as well. When the word is mingled with the living Spirit in our spirit, we are sanctified with the essence of God.

Throughout the years I have been in this country, I have not been burdened to teach you what to do or what not to do. I have no trust in mere teachings because, according to my own experience, they do not accomplish very much. Our crucial need is to have the Triune God infused into us through the Word. This infusion works to sanctify us and transform us. To take the Word in this way is not a religious practice or ordinance. It is to experience the living Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—being wrought into us through the living Word. By contacting the Word in this way, God is added into us day by day. As a result, we are permeated with God and made one with Him.

SANCTIFICATION RESULTING IN ONENESS 
BY DEALING WITH THE FACTORS OF DIVISION

Sanctification through the word of truth results in oneness. The sanctifying word, the sanctifying Spirit, the sanctifying life, and the sanctifying God are all one. Therefore, if we are being sanctified, we can be nothing else but one. We are one spontaneously because all the factors of division are taken away.

Worldliness

The first of these factors is worldliness. As long as you love the world in a certain aspect, that aspect of worldliness becomes a cause of division. It separates you from the brothers and sisters. Anyone who is worldly is through with oneness. Such worldliness is like a wolf.

Ambition

Another cause of division is ambition. Ambition is like a gopher that works underground in a hidden way to cause damage. Ambition undermines from within. We all must admit that we are ambitious. What can kill our ambition? Rebuking does not avail. The more you rebuke someone, the more you arouse his ambition. I can testify from experience, however, that when we contact the Lord through the Word and allow Him to infuse Himself into us, the truth thus imparted into our being kills our ambition. There is no other way for ambition to be rooted out of us. Day by day the sanctifying truth kills the element of ambition within us. The germ of ambition is in our blood and needs the sanctifying truth as an “antibiotic” to kill it. If our ambition is not killed, there can be no genuine oneness.

I thank the Lord that we brothers are one, not because we have the same disposition or because we have made a certain agreement. Rather, we are one because our ambition is being killed. The hidden “gopher” of ambition needs to be exterminated by the sanctifying word. If we desire to have the genuine oneness in the church life, we need the sanctifying truth to deal with our ambition.

In John 17:17-23 we see that sanctification issues in the genuine oneness because this sanctification keeps us in the Triune God. Verse 21 says, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” In order to be one we need to be in the “Us,” that is, in the Triune God. The only way to be in the Triune God is by the sanctifying truth that deals with all the factors of division. By being kept in the Triune God, we are one. But whenever we are out of the Triune God, we are divided immediately.

CHAPTER FIVE

TRUTH SANCTIFYING FOR ONENESS

Truth occupies a prominent place in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is not only a book of life but also a book of truth. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life,” and verse 14 says that He was “full of grace and truth” (KJV). Furthermore, John 1:17 says, “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (KJV). In John 14:6 the Lord Jesus declared, “I am…the truth” (KJV). This Gospel reveals that the compound Spirit, the Spirit which was “not yet” (7:39) before the Lord was crucified and resurrected, is the Spirit of truth (14:17, KJV). Regarding the Father’s word, the Lord Jesus said, “Your word is truth” (17:17). Therefore, the Lord Jesus is the truth, the Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and the Father’s word is truth.

TWO FUNCTIONS OF THE TRUTH

The Gospel of John reveals two functions of the truth. The first is to set us free. John 8:32 says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” In John 17:17 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth.” Therefore, according to the Gospel of John, the functions of the truth are to set us free and to sanctify us.

John 17 indicates that truth, sanctification, and oneness are interrelated. Here we have the Father’s word, which is the truth that sanctifies us. Hence, verse 17 puts together truth and sanctification, for sanctification issues from the truth. When the truth works within us, the result is sanctification. This sanctification through the truth is for oneness. Verses 17 through 23 of chapter 17 cover truth, sanctification, and oneness. Truth sanctifies, and sanctification issues in oneness.

TRUTH BEING THE REALITY OF THE TRIUNE GOD

The truth that sanctifies us for oneness involves the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of reality, and the word of the Father. Therefore, all three of the Triune God are related to the truth. The Lord Jesus, the Son, is the truth; the Spirit is the Spirit of truth; and the Father’s word is truth. In the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John, truth does not mean doctrine; it means the reality of the Triune God. We may have known that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all related to life, but we may have never seen that all three of the Triune God are related also to the truth.

We have pointed out that the Father’s word is truth. Because the Father’s word is His expression, and because His word is truth, truth is the expression of the Father.

The whole Bible is the word of God. We need to be deeply impressed with the fact that the Bible is not merely a book but a word that expresses God. Whenever we come to the Bible, we should have the consciousness that we are coming to God’s expression, to God expressed. Every time I come to the Word, I have the sense deep within that I am coming to God Himself, and not to a hidden God or a concealed God, but to the God who is expressed. By means of the Bible I can meet with God, talk to Him, and listen to Him. We all need to have such a conviction whenever we come to the Bible.

Christ, the Son, is also the truth. This is somewhat easy to understand because the Father’s word is the Son, who is the expression of God. Many Christian teachers have rightly said that the Bible is the written Word and that the Son is the living Word. I agree with this. The Bible is the word without, and the Son is the word within. But these two, the outer word and the inner word, are one.

All this is realized through God the Spirit. We have pointed out that in the Gospel of John the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit of reality. The Spirit is the realization of the Son as the embodiment of the Father. Therefore, the Spirit is the reality. The Spirit is also the word. John 6:63 says that the Lord’s word is spirit, and Ephesians 6:17 says that the Spirit is the word. Hallelujah, we have the Word without and the Spirit within!

Whenever we come to the Word with an open heart and an open spirit, we immediately touch both the Word and the Spirit as the truth. I can testify that every time I open my heart and spirit as I come to the Bible, I meet God. Through this one act, I touch both the Word and the Spirit, both the written Word and the living Word. Two or three times every day we need to come to the Word. It is rather difficult to come to the Lord as the Spirit apart from the Word. Although it certainly can be done, we do need the Word. What a wonderful instrument the Word is for contacting the Lord! When we are disappointed or depressed, feeling empty within, we can open ourselves and come to the Word. After reading for a while, something within us rises up, and we enjoy the presence of the Lord. This is the experience of the truth, the reality. It is the Triune God in His word being imparted into our being. This is the truth.

The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is one with the word. When we touch the Word, we also touch the Spirit. Then something is infused into our inner being. Whatever is infused into us in this way is the truth. Although this involves the acquisition of biblical knowledge, there is something living inside this knowledge. This is the Triune God realized by us and transfused into us through the word. This is not merely the word. It is the word mingled and saturated with the Triune God and infused into our being. This is the truth that sets us free and sanctifies us.

SPEAKING THE SAME THING FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES

Some have said that the Lord’s recovery is a one-man show, that here there is room only for the ministry of Witness Lee, not for the ministry of anyone else. This is absolutely false. This is not my intention nor is it my practice. In the Lord’s recovery I do not like to see one brother ministering all the time. For example, during the summer training in 1964 and 1965 I invited a certain brother to share with me in the ministry. Eventually, he gave up the recovery; but we did not give him up. We have also invited other brothers to participate in the ministry. Our intention is to have a good number of brothers ministering. However, all who share in the ministry need to minister the same thing.

When I say that we all should minister the same thing, I mean that we should speak the same thing according to the way of the New Testament. The four Gospels speak the same thing, but they speak the same thing from different angles. We cannot deny that there are differences between Matthew and Mark or between Luke and John. Matthew wrote from the angle of the kingship; Mark, from the angle of service; Luke, from the angle of redemption through the proper humanity; and John, from the angle of Christ’s deity. In the Gospels we have four biographies of one person; one person is viewed from different angles. I hope that many will be raised up to speak the same thing from different angles. This one thing is the recovery of Christ as life and everything to us for the building up of the local churches.

Some criticize the brothers by saying that they are nothing but tape recordings of Witness Lee. This is not true. I hope that in the coming years many of the young people will speak of Christ for the building up of the Body. I have no intention of being the only one to minister. On the contrary, I expect the Lord to raise up many more to carry on the unique ministry. We all have a part in this ministry, which is one ministry with different functions, different angles, and different aspects. You have your part, and I have mine. When we have all the functions and aspects, we have the ministry of the Body.

Some who have left the recovery accuse us of not accepting their ministry. But their ministry is a ministry of undermining and damaging the Lord’s recovery. How can we possibly accept the ministries of those whose intention has been to undermine the Lord’s recovery and to overthrow the basic matters of life, including the cross? I say this not out of any personal feeling but out of a concern for the truth. I have no personal enmity whatever toward these ones; however, I cannot accept their “ministry,” which tears down rather than builds up.

We need to be clear about the truth regarding the ministry, about the situation of today’s Christianity, and about our practice. Our practice is according to the truth in the New Testament. We are glad to see different brothers share various aspects or angles concerning Christ as life for the building up of the church in His riches. I recognize that I am very limited. Nevertheless, by the Lord’s mercy, I am doing what I should do. Now I expect that others will minister the same thing from different angles. I certainly do not want anyone to copy me, and I do not want to be surrounded by “yes men.” What an insult to say that the brothers are “yes men”! I repeat, many brothers need to stand up to minister concerning Christ for the building up of the Body. How wonderful it would be if many did this!

THE BLESSING OF SPEAKING THE SAME THING

When I was a young man, I loved the Bible very much, and I spent as much time as I could studying it. The last thing I did before going to sleep at night was read a portion of the Word, and the first thing I did upon waking in the morning was read another portion. For seven and a half years I was under the Brethren teachers, who taught me how to interpret the parables, prophecies, and types. How I loved their teaching! Eventually, I met Brother Nee, and through him I came to know life, the Spirit, Christ for my experience, the church, and the Lord’s recovery. All these things became truth to me and caused my entire Christian being to be revolutionized. After a church had been raised up in northern China through my ministry, I visited Brother Nee in Shanghai and stayed with him for a period of months. At the end of that time, he told me that he and the co-workers felt that I should come with my family to Shanghai and work there with them. From that time onward, my speaking was always in the line of Brother Nee’s ministry. I knew that he had been raised up by the Lord to bring in the recovery and that I had to be one with him in the ministry. Therefore, I preached whatever he preached, although not like a tape recorder. I was absolutely one with him, and I spoke the same thing as he. I have no regrets about this because it has been the cause of great blessing to me and to the churches.

We need to be clear that we are not following a man or imitating anyone. However, we are ministering the same thing from different angles and in different aspects. By doing this the riches are manifest; yet we have a glorious oneness. This is the one ministry, which encompasses many ministries. We all are ministering Christ as life and as everything for the building up of the local churches. This is the Lord’s recovery, this is our commission, this is our burden, and this is our ministry. How blessed we are to have a part in this ministry!

THE MINISTRIES IN THE DENOMINATIONS

Regarding this matter of the ministry, we need to be clear both about the truth in the Bible and about the situation of today’s Christianity. Originally, during the time of the apostles, there was one Body with one ministry. But due to the degradation of the church, the divisions and denominations came into existence. Now every division has its own so-called ministry. The Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, the Episcopalians, and the Pentecostals all have their own ministries. The ministers, pastors, and preachers in the various denominations are working to build up the denominations, not the Body. Because each is building up his own denomination, he cannot work together with others.

We can have nothing to do with the denominations. In the Lord’s recovery we are for the recovery of Christ as life and everything to us for the building up of the church. For the fulfillment of God’s purpose in His recovery, we need to go back to the beginning, back to the pure Word. In the New Testament there is one unique ministry. From the time of the apostles until now, this ministry has not been terminated. I believe that we are the continuation of this ministry. I am happy to say that I am in this ministry, that I am part of this ministry. We are in the unique ministry according to the New Testament economy.

NOT RECEIVING MINISTRIES 
THAT DAMAGE THE BODY

At the time of the apostles there were no denominations. Because of the degradation of the church and the existence of many divisions, there apparently are now many ministries. Can we in the Lord’s recovery, who share in the unique ministry, the continuation of the ministry of the apostles, accept the ministries of the denominations and divisions? No, we cannot. If we accept them, the recovery will be damaged. The proper ministry, the ministry according to God’s New Testament economy, is for the building up of the Body of Christ, but the other ministries are for the building up of the denominations. Because this is the case, we cannot receive the ministries that build up the denominations.

When I was in Taiwan, some denominational missionaries told me that they appreciated the work of my ministry and that they wanted to invite me to speak to their people and to help them. They also suggested that I invite them to speak to us. How would you reply to such a suggestion? The correct way to answer is to say that Brother Lee and his co-workers have been commissioned by the Lord to build up the Body of Christ. However, those in the denominations are building up the denominations. We are not burdened to do this. Rather, our burden is to continue the ministry in the New Testament for the building up of the Body. Because the ministries of those in the denominations are for the building up of the denominations, we cannot invite them to speak to us. If we were to give place to such ministries, the Body would be damaged. This is the reason we cannot receive those ministries. We admit that there is something genuine in them, but as a whole their goal is to build up the denominations. This is a frustration and an opposition to the building up of the Body.

Regarding this matter of the ministry, we need the Lord’s shining. We need to go to the Lord and open ourselves to Him. If we do this, the light will shine upon this teaching concerning the ministry, and the teaching will become the truth, the reality, to us. From the time the Lord made me clear about this matter many years ago, I have never been distracted from it, because the shining of the light is so bright. The light shines upon all my steps; therefore, I cannot help the denominations. Furthermore, we cannot invite those in the denominations to speak to us and thereby cause damage to the Lord’s recovery. Because the ministries of those in the denominations are for a purpose other than God’s eternal purpose to build up the Body of Christ, we cannot cooperate with them. We can neither help them nor receive help from them. Some may think that we are narrow-minded for taking this stand. Actually, we are not narrow-minded. However, the light regarding the ministry is shining upon us; we cannot deny that we have seen it. Because of this light, we cannot change in this matter.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE MINISTRY 
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT ECONOMY

In this chapter we will consider the truth concerning the ministry in the New Testament economy.

ONE MINISTRY

In the eyes of the Lord there is just one ministry in the New Testament age. Speaking of the need of a replacement for Judas, Peter said that Judas “was numbered among us and was allotted his portion of this ministry” (Acts 1:17). The twelve apostles were all in “this ministry.” This indicates that there is one unique ministry in the New Testament. Years ago, I did not see this. But because of the controversy regarding receiving the ministry of others, I have spent time to study the pure Word regarding this matter. My eyes have been opened to see that the twelve apostles were all in “this ministry.” Therefore, when the apostles prayed about a replacement for Judas, they asked the Lord to show them whom He had chosen to “take the place of this ministry” (v. 25).

Some may argue that “this ministry” is limited to the twelve apostles. But Ephesians 4:11 and 12 say, “He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” Verse 11 is related to the whole period of time from the apostles until the Lord’s second coming. In God’s New Testament economy there are many apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. Throughout the centuries there have been thousands of them. Nevertheless, all of them have been given for the perfecting of the saints to the work of the ministry. Notice that verse 12 does not say “the work of the ministries” but “the work of the ministry.” Although there are thousands of gifted persons, all are for the work of the one ministry.

During the New Testament age God’s unique intention is to build up the Body. God created the universe, formed man, and accomplished redemption all for this. For this one purpose, God has one ministry. God does not have two operations in this New Testament age; He has one operation with one ministry.

The ministry in the New Testament economy is a corporate ministry, a ministry that includes thousands of gifted people. Therefore, in 2 Corinthians 4:1 Paul says, “Having this ministry.” Paul does not say, “I have this ministry” or “We have these ministries”; he says, “Having this ministry.” Paul, his co-workers, and the other apostles all had this ministry, the one ministry in the New Testament.

In 2 Corinthians 3:6 Paul says that God “made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant.” The ministry is the service; all the ministers are the serving ones carrying out this service. The many ministers do not have many services but one service, one ministry.

I like Paul’s word in 1 Timothy 1:12: “I give thanks to Him who empowers me, Christ Jesus our Lord, that He has counted me faithful, appointing me to the ministry.” In this verse Paul does not say, “He appointed me to my ministry”; he says that the Lord appointed him to the one unique, corporate New Testament ministry. We all need to praise the Lord that by His mercy and grace He has appointed us to the corporate ministry that builds up the Body of Christ.

PERSONAL MINISTRY 
AND CORPORATE MINISTRY

Although these verses reveal that the ministry in the New Testament is corporate, certain other verses seem to indicate that the ministry is personal. In Acts 20:24 Paul says, “I consider my life of no account as if precious to myself, in order that I may finish my course and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus to solemnly testify of the gospel of the grace of God.” This verse refers to Paul’s personal ministry because Paul speaks of the ministry which he had received from the Lord. Hence, the ministry in this verse is the personal ministry.

Acts 21:19 definitely and clearly refers to Paul’s personal ministry: “Having greeted them, he related one by one the things which God did among the Gentiles through his ministry.” Other verses that seem to refer to personal ministry are 2 Timothy 4:5 and Colossians 4:17. In 2 Timothy 4:5 Paul charged Timothy, “Fully accomplish your ministry,” apparently encouraging him to fulfill his personal ministry. Colossians 4:17 says, “Say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.” This evidently points to Archippus’s personal ministry.

In considering the verses that speak of personal ministry, we need to realize that all the believers are members of the one Body. As a whole, the Body has one corporate ministry, not many ministries. Although there are many functions in the Body, the ministry in the Body is one. For example, when I speak, my whole body speaks: my eyes, nose, ears, arms, fingers, legs, and feet are all involved. Therefore, my speaking is my body’s ministry. This ministry is corporate. However, each part of my body also has its own ministry. The mouth speaks, the hands make gestures, and the feet render support. But when the ministries of all the members are added together, they total the unique ministry of the body. This example indicates that the many ministries of the members of the Body are not separate ministries but part of one corporate ministry.

The New Testament ministry is uniquely one and corporate. But because this ministry is the service of the Body of Christ and because the Body has many members, every member has its own ministry. Thus, according to the members, there are many ministries; however, according to the Body as a whole, there is just one ministry. Your ministry should not be separate from the corporate ministry. The Body has a corporate ministry, and all the members of the Body have their individual ministries. As we have seen, all the ministries of the members added together equal the corporate ministry.